After tallying four goals and four assists in his last three
games, Crosby put Pittsburgh ahead just 81 seconds into the
first period. He tallied midway through the second and scored
an empty-netter with 2:01 remaining in the third to finish the
hat trick.

"They controlled the pace of the game for the first 40 minutes,"
New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "I thought in the third
period we controlled the pace. We played a much better third
period. But 20 minutes against a very good hockey team and
you're down three nothing. That makes it tough.

The All-Star center used his playmaking ability to give the
Penguins just their second power play goal in 27 chances.
Crosby took a feed from Tyler Kennedy and found Sykora all alone
next to the right post for a tap-in goal and a 2-0 lead.

Crosby's goal at 11:29 of the second gave him consecutive
multiple-goal games for the first time in his career and staked
Pittsburgh to a three-goal advantage.

"It was important for us to keep pursuing the puck and not play
on our heels," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "Make
sure we made the right decisions. Just be sure that we are
going to be on the right side of the puck. We didn't give them
any momentum or many scoring chances in the third."

Evgeni Malkin assisted on the goal, giving the center at least a
point in 17 of 19 games.

Mike Rupp scored his second goal in three games for New Jersey
1:54 into the third period. The loss snapped the Devils'
five-game winning streak and handed them just their second loss
in their last eight visits to Pittsburgh.

Scott Clemmensen, who made 31 saves on the night, had his
personal four-game winning streak snapped.

"Obviously this whole league is full of talented players, and
then there's the elite players who are even more talented,"
Clemmensen said of Crosby. "And when those guys are the
hardest-working players on the ice, then that is scary good,
scary good."

Sabourin stopped nine shots in the final period as Pittsburgh
avenged a 2-1 overtime loss to New Jersey on October 11.

"We felt pretty good about our game," Sabourin said. "The guys
in front of me played really hard forechecking, coming back
really hard. Overall, we did a good job tonight."